So, I got a slow cooker for Christmas (thank you, Ken and Alaina!) and a book of recipes (thank you, Alex and Ashley!), and I'm flipping through the book today, thinking, "Now, what should I cook for dinner?  Or possibly lunch tomorrow?"

Get this...

Pepsi Pot Roast

Mrs. D-- M------

Fairbank, IA

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Makes 12 servings
(Ideal for slow-cooker size: 5- or 6-quart)

3-lb pot roast
2 10³/₄-oz. cans of fat-free, low-sodium cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 16-oz. bottles diet cola

1. Place meat in slow cooker.
2. In large bowl mix together mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix, and cola. Pour over roast in cooker.
3. Cover. Cook on high for 6 hours

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Per Serving: 170 calories (60 calories from fat), 7g total fat (2g saturated, 0.5g trans), 70mg cholesterol, 430mg sodium, 4g total carbohydrate (0g fiber, 0g sugar), 23g protein, 0%DV vitamin A, 0%DV vitamin C, 2%DV calcium, 15%DV iron.

Appetizing?

Actually now that I've typed it all up, I'm all hungry...

The Bachelor Sandwich

I've been making these sandwiches for lunch that are simply awesome. And you use bachelor ingredients, and bachelor-priced ingredients.

You'll need bread, lunch meat, and cheese.

Oh, and bacon. Of course, bacon. :)

The ingredients that I use are all the inexpensive brands that I find at the store that I think would be interesting. I use the Giant-brand Honey Wheat Bread (24 ounce/20 slice loaf), Buddig Deli Cuts lunch meat (16 oz package), Giant Cheese (16 oz block, for variety -- otherwise, if you go for the larger, more economical block, you'll be stuck to variations of Cheddar), and Oscar Mayer bacon (16 oz package).

A couple notes -- I usually end up using 6 slices of lunch meat, 3 slices of cheese (just wide enough to go across the bread), and 2 slices of bacon per sandwich.

So the first thing to do is cook the bacon. I usually have at least 2 (if not 4) of these sandwiches, and use 2 slices of bacon per sandwich, so I'll cook 4-8 slices of bacon (handy, for a 16oz, 1oz/slice pack). Then, put the bacon on the bottom of the sandwich, 3 slices of lunch meat, your cheese, another 3 slices of lunch meat, and the final slice of bread. Put it in the oven to melt the cheese -- I use 200 degrees for 10 minutes. You're done.

There is one extra step for bacon lovers. :) Do not read the next paragraph if you are one of the people who count calories and fat like piggies on your children's toes. Don't say I didn't warn you.

If you want the extra flavor, and don't mind the extra fat, while the bacon grease is hot, toss the bread into the pan where the bacon was. Fry one side of the bread in the bacon grease for anywhere from 5-30 seconds, depending on your taste and how toasty you like your bread. The fried side of the bread slices face the inside of the sandwich. But for the fat-conscious among us, this will introduce a lot of fat into your system, so don't do this if it goes against your conscience, or alternately, if you are already "treated-out" for the day. People trying to put on weight of any kind might be interested in this little delicious tidbit. People trying to lose weight should probably avoid this step. People who are just trying to maintain weight might be interested, assuming that they are of the "treats are OK" mentality...

In case you're wondering, I paired oven-roasted turkey with muenster cheese, and I'm now doing sugar-cured ham with mild cheddar. Both combinations worked quite well with the bacon.

Formal 2007

I had requested a half-day off from work on Friday, so I only planned on working until about noon. With this in mind, I got up at 5:00 AM with the intention of going to the gym early, but, when I saw how clear the tollway was, I headed to work instead. I was there by 6:00 AM, and planned to leave at 10. However, two minutes before I planned to head out, I got a project, and I had to work later than I intended, and thus, I didn't get to go to the gym. I went back to the apartment, showered, worked again, packed up, and headed to Front Royal.

To backtrack just a bit, I asked Emma to formal on Monday and, after she accepted (obviously not before -- that would have been very egotistical of me), I began the process of renting a car from JD. I got her a corsage on Wednesday, but I asked them to modify it a little so that it matched her dress.

As regards the car, I was looking for a Chrysler 300, then a Ford Mustang. JD suggested a Dodge Charger or Dodge Magnum. Any of those options sounded good to me, so he did what he could.

Anyway, so, on Friday, I headed out of the apartment and over to Front Royal to pick up the car. JD had managed to get a silver 2007 Dodge Charger SXT. I picked it up at Shenandoah Ford, and, even after promising to not abuse it, I couldn't resist testing it out. The car looked and handled beautifully. It accelerated quite nicely, and took corners very well. I definitely didn't abuse it, but I put a bit more stress on it then I would normally have done so, had it been my own car.

So I drove over to Dane and JD's, and outside the apartment, I ran into Tambi. She and Dr. P were going to formal together, and she asked for some help with a pocket square. I gave her the red one that I had brought down for Dr. P just in case, and showed her a couple ways of folding it. Since I was running late, though, I excused myself, left her in the capable hands of Ed B., put on my tux (black tux, black shirt, cream vest, white tie), and headed out to pick up Emma. As luck would have it, I wasn't all that late. I was going with Sarah and Dan, Ashley and Dominick, Andy, Maggie, and Iona. It was set to be a fun group. :) Emma came out looking wonderful in her blue dress, and Nikole H. took a picture of us. If I get to see them before this post goes up, I'll post one here -- with permission, of course...

We went out to a little French chalet up in the mountains, somewhere between Front Royal and Harper's Ferry. (We actually got lost on the way up there, but I took it as more of a discovery of what the Charger is capable, and I also continue to be impressed by it's ability.) There were about thirty people at the dinner in all, most of whom were seniors, but there were a few alumni -- at least then, I didn't feel quite so out of place.

Peter K., Pate Q., and Bob T. seemed to be the student masterminds of the event. Peter was the announcer for most of the night, so when we got there, we greeted us, and when it was time to eat, he asked us to please be seated. Mr. Brown was the culinary genius of the evening. If you want to take a look at his menu, here it is:

• Caramelized Bacon, Almond and Brie Crostini
• Shrimp Spring Roll with and Apricot Chile Dipping Sauce
• Grilled Chicken Sate with Peanut Sauce
• Cream of Cauliflower Potato Soup
• Tartlet Duo: Onion, Prosciutto
• Orange Salad with Balsamic Drizzle
• Seafood Risotto with Seared Scallop and Parmesan Crisp
• Watermelon Intermezzo
• Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Chipotle Chile Rum Sauce, Fresh Corn Fritters, and Shoestring Sweet Potatoes
• Chilled White Chocolate Lemon Souffle
• Flourless Chocolate Cake

It was a lot of food, even in the small portions that he served us. It was a good thing that the portions were so small, because my stomach has shrunk significantly since Christendom, so I can't pack away food like I could in college...

After the dinner, Pate wanted to get a group picture, so we all gathered at the stairs to get a picture. (Thanks to Dampi for letting me use her picture. YOU ROCK, DAMPI!!!) After that, Emma and I headed out, following our original group to formal. Emma and I got onto 81 and headed north. At first, I was really confused by the fact that we were supposed to go to exit 5. It took a few miles, but then it suddenly clicked that exit 5 was in West Virginia. I felt really silly when I realized that, because I was going fairly slowly, looking for telltale signs of an exit 5. To those of you who don't know, once you get on 81N from 66, the first exit number is over 300. I knew that exit 5 was all the way south on 81 in VA, and that it would take us several hours to get there -- and then it dawned on me that the dance was in WV. I'm a little bit slow...

Anyway, the formal dance was being held in the large hall of St. Leo's Catholic Church. It was a very large hall. We arrived just about 11:00 PM, with about two hours left of the dance. As usual, I saw someone I knew outside, and I had to stop and chat with them. Emma was very nice and sweet in letting me continue postponing dancing (although kind of unintentionally postponing it), but after the third person with whom I chatted, I began to catch on to the fact that she wanted to get inside to the dance. Like I said: not all the lights are on upstairs. :)

We danced a few slow dances, a couple swings, and a waltz. I'm definitely out of practice -- however, it's a good thing that I had TJ's help earlier on (as I related in a couple previous posts), because the moves were coming to me, although embarrassingly slowly. There was one dance that I missed with Emma though: Laurel put on a tango (I love tango), so I quickly searched the room, but couldn't find Emma. However, feeling the need to dance the tango, I danced with Sylvia S., and proved that I was even out of practice with the tango.

Over the course of the night, I danced with a few other girls as well: Bridget R., Jenne L. (who had dislocated her hip -- that was an interesting dance), Emily G., and Sarah M. (formerly S.). That is not all of them -- I am just getting old and can't remember all of them. My first "dance" after I danced with Emma was a disco train, though. That was fun. I yelled at several people to get in it. Lizzie chickened out, but Dr. P, Tambi, and Krebsie joined. There was even an alternate train forming on a separate track, and we both merged into one giant one. Later on in the evening, I also heard the Electric Slide. This is by far my favorite line dance. It's easy enough to do, even though it's also easy to mess up -- which I do quite often. Usually though, recovery is quick and practically painless...

Emma, Josepha and I got together and walked around for a bit. We were going to go into the chapel to check it out, but this turned into an "acoustics test", so we grabbed a few other choir members that we could find fairly quickly and went to go sing a couple motets. I have to admit that I rather enjoyed the acoustics of the church, even though it seemed oddly dead. It was harder to fill the church with sound, meaning that we all had to sing louder. :)

About then, the dance was wrapping up. I danced the last three dances with Emma, and then there was the concluding prayer. As people made their exits, I noticed Peachy -- I hadn't seen him in a few months, so we exchanged e-mail addresses so that we could keep in touch more frequently.

After that, Emma and I joined Lizzie, JD, Sylvia, Michael, Kathleen and Andy for discussions on what to do next. It was 1:00 AM, but we still had some energy left. Someone suggested ice cream, and after discussing this for a little while, we all headed out the door. Since Emma and I were the first to head out, we stopped by Martin's and picked some up. Then we went to JD's, where the rest of the folks were waiting, and socialized for a while. I drove Emma back to her dorm sometime between 3:30-4:00 AM.

Great Saturday

I have been very busy today. I attended the morning Liturgy at Holy Transfiguration, which was the Vespers, Blessing the new light, Procession of Triumph, the first proclamation of the Resurrection, and Divine Liturgy of Our Father among the St. Basil. Essentially, it is the same service as what is the Easter Vigil in the West, but this service focuses more on death's realization that it the apparently simply Carpenter from Nazareth that it has taken in is no ordinary man, but is God. It bewails the loss of its power over those whom it has taken in, but has no choice except to surrender the Chosen to the Divine Son of God, while the Chosen rejoice in the triumph over death by God and their release from the captivity of Limbo to heaven.

After the morning Liturgy, I had brunch at Holy Transfiguration. After that, I took Hugh M. to the store to get some food, and then went back to the apartment.

I've spent a lot of time cooking for the Pascha celebration -- good old mac and cheese. I made it using a self-modified recipe given to me by Christine C. It's more of a casserole: a layer of farfalle on the bottom, layered over with slices of sharp cheddar, then a layer of shells, then a layer of mozzarella, then a layer of meat (bacon in one pan, ground beef in the other), then a layer of riccoli, then Colby Jack, then elbows, then alternating rows of extra sharp cheddar and muenster. Top that off with several pats of butter and a drizzling of milk on it, and a enough Parmesan to mostly cover the top, but not enough to permeate the whole thing. The style of layered noodles and cheese came from the original recipe. The end was just the result of my thinking, "What might be good?" I honestly have no idea how it tastes, because I've never made it before -- I just hope that someone likes it. I'll let you know how much is left...